In the Din of Film, an Enduring Voice

By

Steve Dollar

Updated Sept. 17, 2010 12:01 a.m. ET

Now that anyone with a decent wireless connection can access almost any movie they want to see, old-fashioned cinephiles might fear that the concept of the curatorially minded, blue-chip film festival is obsolete. Yet, after nearly a half-century, the New York Film Festival continues to argue otherwise.

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Director David Fincher (right) on the set of his film 'The Social Network,' which will open the New York Film Festival on Sept. 24
Merrick Morton/Columbia Pictures

The festival's 48th edition opens next Friday and runs through Oct. 10, with screenings at Walter Reade Theater and Alice Tully Hall, on the Lincoln Center campus. Its opening-night selection is the world premiere of David Fincher's "The Social Network," reaffirming the event as a coveted platform for filmmakers and a first-look occasion for audiences curious to see films that will be making news throughout the next year.

"The beauty of the festival has always been to do away with categories," said Richard Peña, who has served as its program director for 23 years. "Art cinema, commercial cinema. Big cinema, small cinema. We show what we think is really great cinema, and that great cinema can occur in multimillion dollar productions or in unbelievably modest film shots with HD video cameras."

Mr. Fincher's much-hyped drama about cunning and betrayal behind the Ivy League origins of Facebook (with a screenplay by Aaron Sorkin) may seem to be the sort of flashy Hollywood opener that would contradict Mr. Pena's credo—and place the festival closer in spirit to the much larger and younger Tribeca Film Festival, which runs downtown each spring. But Mr. Fincher has long been a favorite of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and its programmers. "He came a year-and-a-half ago and did a retrospective of his work," Mr. Peña said. "It's a dance. They're looking for their biggest advantage. We're looking for our greatest advantage."

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Cristi Puiu stars in his film 'Aurora.'
Coproduction Office

So the festival will harness the film's considerable buzz to boost its own profile, and Mr. Fincher gets a lofty launch for his efforts. The closing film, Clint Eastwood's "Hereafter" (starring Matt Damon), offers a finale with some traditional glitter. Again, though, Mr. Eastwood is a director the festival has loved for decades. This visit will be his fourth since 1988, and it comes on the heels of FSLC's summer retrospective of his complete filmography as a director.

The NYFF's motto has been consistent since 1963, when it was founded by Amos Vogel and Richard Roud: Auteurs 'R Us. It can get predictable. Was there really a doubt that the festival would present "Film Socialsme," the 80-year-old Jean-Luc Godard's latest (and rumored to be last) film? The French director has been onboard since the first NYFF.

Yet, at the same time, the focus has been shifting toward new generations of directors who have built substantial bodies of work. Among others included the festival's main slate of 28 films are Thailand's Apichatpong Weerasethakul, with his supernatural-themed "Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives"; Olivier Assayas with his five-hour biographical drama "Carlos," with a starmaking performance by Edgar Ramirez as the notorious 1970s terrorist Carlos the Jackal; and Kelly Reichardt, whose "Wendy and Lucy" was a 2008 selection, back again with an ambitious Western, "Meek's Cutoff."

"I always like to think there's this great continuum," Mr. Peña said. "At one end is phenomenal social relevance and at the other end is extraordinary formal invention. And the best films of course meet somewhere in the middle."

Industry observers look to the festival as a certified stamp of approval, whether they're scouting for new work or striving to promote it. "The people at the Film Society have a very specific eye for film," said David Fenkel, the co-founder of the theatrical and DVD distributor Oscilloscope Laboratories. "When they show a film like 'Meek's Cutoff,' it sends a signal that this film is one of the top films of the year."

Mr. Fenkel, whose company released "Wendy and Lucy" on DVD, also was rooting for another favorite filmmaker, Sebastian Silva, whose "Old Cats" will be screened at the festival. "He's from Chile, and he's shooting a very specific kind of Chilean dramedy." He's got no [professional] actors. He has no marketing tools. Here, he gets the love and gets the platform."

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Mathias Domahidy in Jean-Luc Godard's 'Film Socialisme.'
New York Film Festival

The festival's engagement with resurgent national cinemas continues this year as it showcases three new films from Romania. Cristi Pulu, whose "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu" (2005) is credited with kicking off the Romanian new wave, returns with "Aurora," joining two colleagues who mark their NYFF debut: Radu Muntean, with the domestic drama "Tuesday After Christmas," and Andrei Ujica, with the three-hour docu-fiction "The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu."

"Presence in a festival like this is absolutely crucial for these films to become points of reference," said Corina Suteu, director of the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York. "To have these films presented, with all of the background of the Romanian new wave, you really are able to create momentum."

One of the festival's repeat guests was less concerned with critical appreciation than having a good time. "The New York Film Festival is just the best thing," said British director Mike Leigh, who will show his new film "Another Year." "And the audience Q&As are to die for. I love the fantastic spirit of the festival, which actually is the spirit of New York City."

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